CIM Lessons 229-235 and Miracles Principle #34

Miracles Principle #34: “Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. By atoning for lack they establish perfect protection. The spirit’s strength leaves no room for intrusions.” The ego teaches that we’re vulnerable and therefore we need to protect ourselves. The miracle demonstrates there is no vulnerability in us, and therefore we don’t need any protection. That’s what Jesus taught us through the crucifixion and the resurrection: a child of God cannot be destroyed.  Jesus’ body was attacked, but he could not be destroyed because he identified with the perfect protection of Spirit. He knew Who he was and, therefore, it didn’t natter what people did to him physically or psychologically. His spirit could not be intruded upon. When we know our Oneness with God, it’s as if there’s a circle of light around us that can’t be penetrated. Attempting to “manifest” a protective circle of light around ourselves, as some do, does not have the same effect. What that does is make the body and the danger “real” in our minds. Such attempts to take matters in our own hands, in effect, are like saying we don’t have faith that God is our protection. No harm is done, yet we are missing the point—the “key” to our natural state of invulnerability.

Lesson 229: “Love, Which created me, is what I am.” Many of the lessons in Part II seem to express a state of mind very foreign to where we are as we read them. In reality, they express our true state of mind, the state of mind we can reach in the holy instant. Right-mindedness is not some future state I’m trying to reach. There’s an aspect of my mind that already knows these things and trusts them. This part of my mind is my true Identity, the Identity God has kept safe for me.

Lesson 230: “Now will I seek and find the peace of God.” Jesus, in his Course, never tires of reminding us that we remain as God created us. He repeats it often because we obviously do not believe it. Most of us can accept that God created us in peace. The problem arises with the second sentence: “In peace do I remain.” Quite simply, we don’t believe this. In fact, we’re firmly convinced we know otherwise. Most days it seems life is conspiring against me to rob me of peace. The question is, which one will I believe—God’s Voice or my experience? One of them must be false. And it’s earth shattering to believe that my experience of this world has been a lie, a mistake, an hallucination. Yet, what is the alternative? To believe instead that God is a liar? Shall I believe His creation was flawed and has fallen into ruin? If God is not a liar, and His creation is not flawed, then what must be true is that my own mind has deceived me. If I’m willing to entertain this possibility, it’s not as far-fetched as it first may seem. In fact, if I simply watch my mind, I can catch it doing this very thing. I can watch and observe how I see what I expect to see. I can notice how different people see the same situation differently. I can remember times when I was convinced I knew the truth of a matter only to discover some small fact that proved I was wrong. I need only to observe the sun rise, move over the horizon, and “set” to realize my perception is faulty. When night comes, and the sun is “gone” in my perception, the sun shines on; it is my world that has turned its face from the light. What if the peace of God has never left me, but shines on, while I have turned my face from it? In the holy instant, I can find that this is in fact the truth.

Lesson 231: “Father, I will but to remember you.” This lesson is talking about our will. Our will is not our wishes or temporary desires. It’s a fundamental, unchanging part of us, the permanently fixed goal of our Self. Our will is to remember God; to know His Love again. Not many of us would answer the question, “What do you want out of life?” with the words “To remember God and know His Love.” The lesson recognizes that “Perhaps I think I seek for something else.” What is the “something else” I think I’m seeking? Maybe wealth or fame. Maybe a good time or hot sex. Or a quiet family life, in the tradition of the American dream. Yet no matter what we think we’re seeking, these are not what we truly will for ourselves. It isn’t the form we’re seeking but the content. And what is that? Inner peace. Satisfaction. A sense of completion and wholeness. A sense of worth. Ultimately, these things come only from remembering God and knowing His Love. They are something inside us, not outside. Let me then, today, spend time, morning and evening, reminding myself of this fact: “Father, I will but to remember You.” Let me stop briefly each hour to recall it to my mind.

What Is Salvation? CIM does not attach the same meaning to this word as does traditional religion. For most of us, “salvation” carries the connotation of some impending disaster from which we are “saved.” From hell, for instance. Salvation in CIM is more a “life preserver.” The word salvation can also be used interchangeably with the word “happiness” in the sense that it means returning us to our right mind and our true Identity.  It doesn’t save us from hell, which does not exist except in figurative terms. It preserves us in life. It’s a guarantee that death will never touch us. Before time began, God made His promise, a promise that “cannot but be kept.” That promise guaranteed that time, and all the mess we appear to have made in time, would have an end, and ultimately be without any effect at all. It guaranteed that life cannot end, that holiness cannot become sin, that Heaven cannot become hell. It guaranteed that there could never be more than an illusion of separation and a dream of suffering and death. We will find our way to God, Whom we never left in Reality, because God wills that it be so.

How does salvation work? God’s word has been implanted in us and remains in us beneath all our self-deception.  It is one remedy to every thought of conflict, whether lack and limitation, illness, frustration or death. The Thought of God heals them all. The remedy, then, lies within us. Before the thought of separation, there was no need for “salvation.” As CIM says of forgiveness, because there is an illusion of need, there is need for an illusion of answer. But that answer is really simply the acceptance of what has always been true and always will be true: we are forever One with God—whole and holy.

Lesson 232: “Be in my mind, my Father, through the day.” What’s a day like for someone who’s learned what the Course is teaching? To constantly practice the end of fear. To walk with faith in Him who is our Father. God’s love, peace, and joy abide with us; they take precedence over all other thoughts. Physical discomfort and concerns about the day arise, but none of these displace the peace of God for long. God is our constant companion and protector, always there, often unnoticed, like the hum of an air conditioner—but always available, providing comfort, whether or not we turn our attention to it.

Lesson 233: “I give my life to God to guide today.” The first step in following God’s guidance is stepping back, releasing our tight hold on our lives and deliberately placing them under His control. If we are listening for it, the guidance will come, and it will be of an order so superior to what our human mind could conceive, it will clearly register as a miracle.

An interesting “aside” on this lesson. There are places in CIM that make it clear God does not “hear” the specific words of our prayers (although He does hear the prayers of our hearts, of which words are only symbols). Knowing only truth, God does not give credence to the details of our errors and illusions. Technically, then, prayers of specifics or prayers of “need” ought to be directed to Jesus or the Holy Spirit, who are specifically spoken of as intermediaries between truth and illusion. Yet, we have 140 lessons in this section, each of which contains a prayer directed to “Father.” By this, we discover that Jesus is not “persnickety” about theology. As Harry so often says, it’s our intent that God set the universe up to respond to.

Lesson 234: “Father, today I am Your Son again.” This lesson is about anticipating Heaven. That is what we do each day as we draw near to God in stillness. We are giving ourselves a foretaste of Heaven. In these practice times, we deliberately stretch ourselves above the level of our normal experience. We choose to “accept as wholly true” the fact that the peace of God, Father and Son, has never been disturbed.

Lesson 235: “God in His mercy wills that I be saved.” Unfortunately, many of us believe the exact opposite of this truth. We think that God, in his anger, wills that we be punished. Deep within each of us is a niggling voice telling us we deserve every “bad break” we get and that what joy we do have may be taken away from us because we are undeserving. To those who bemoan how the world mistreats them, CIM has abrupt advice: “Give up these foolish thoughts!” (M-15.3:1) It is in my power to reverse these things. All I need to do is to remember, “God wills I be saved from this.” God does not will my pain or sorrow. We think our hurt is caused by the world; CIM teaches us it’s the other way around. Our belief in God’s anger is what brings us suffering. Likewise, our faith in His mercy transforms our lives.

Assignment: Miracles Principle #35. Lessons 236-242. In the Text, read as Spirit directs you. Also, please remember to bring in your questions and/or passages from CIM that you’d like the group to read and discuss. These are the “springboards” that provide our most effective lessons!

Practical Application: Give what you’d like to receive this week.